Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Friendly Reminder!

Do you ever have days where you feel like this?

You just don't want to get out of bed. You feel tired, lethargic and you're thinking you might be coming down with a cold or flu? It happens to all of us... unless you live in a bubble. It also happens to dogs.

Canine Influenza is a virus that is transmitted from dog to dog. Humans cannot become infected. Symptoms are similar to human flu: coughing, sneezing, runny nose and fatigue. Worst case scenario is that your dog will develop a high fever, difficult breathing, pneumonia and/or bleeding in the lungs. Sometimes dogs can be asymptomatic (they carry the virus, but show no symptoms). If you suspect your dog is under the weather, please take them to the vet. They can test and diagnose whether or not your dog has the flu. There is also a vaccine. The vaccine won't help if your dog already has the flu. It's similar to a human flu shot...it just eases the blow to the body. If your dog has the flu, your vet will have to decide the appropriate treatment (rest, lots of fluids... rest and rest... and quarantined to the house with no contact to other dogs until they recover).

Please remember that if your dog is under the weather, vomiting or has diarrhea, please keep them at home until they get better. Also remember that if your dog does get a cold or flu, these things happen sometimes (My human kids seem to bring a cold or flu home every other month). The only way you can be completely sure your dog will not catch a virus is to isolate them from all dog contact and that would be a pretty lonely life. We at Bark City try REALLY hard to keep our facility clean and sanitized to reduce the risk, but sometimes those asymptomatic dogs can be sneaky.

This dog isn't really sick. He is just really tired from playing too much at Bark City.